Thursday, September 17, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
This is a test
I am testing something here. If you are seeing this before I want you to, my test has failed. Go Go Power Rangers. May the Power protect you. Jor-El is kick ass.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Angel Series Finale
Not Fade Away, the series finale of Angel, would have been vastly improved if they removed that "touching" scene in Angel's office between Angel and Harmony, where they reminisce about being human, and they replaced it with the following scene:
INT. Wesley's office. Wesley sits at his desk reading over some manuscripts. Angel enters the office.
Angel: Hey, Wes, Can you really sign away a prophesy about yourself by signing it in blood?
Wesley: Um... No, Angel, its a prophesy, not a cashiers check. Prophesies are visions of the future, if people could undo a prophesy simply by signing it away in blood, don't you think Sahjhan would have just signed his prophesy instead of going back and forth through time and manipulating Holtz, and myself into sending Connor through a rip in the fabric of space and time to Cortoth?
Angel: Hmm, good point. So they were just testing me then...
Wesley: Or they wanted to put it up on Ebay.
Angel: hmm?
Wesley: Come on, an autograph from the vampire with a soul, on his very own shanshu prophesy, no less! The reserve would be over 7 figures!
Angel: What's Ebay?
Wesley: Here, lets take a look. (opens up laptop, types) there it is. See, look.
Angel: Hmmm, is that an old picture of me?
Wesley: Yes, you've gained weight.
End scene.
INT. Wesley's office. Wesley sits at his desk reading over some manuscripts. Angel enters the office.
Angel: Hey, Wes, Can you really sign away a prophesy about yourself by signing it in blood?
Wesley: Um... No, Angel, its a prophesy, not a cashiers check. Prophesies are visions of the future, if people could undo a prophesy simply by signing it away in blood, don't you think Sahjhan would have just signed his prophesy instead of going back and forth through time and manipulating Holtz, and myself into sending Connor through a rip in the fabric of space and time to Cortoth?
Angel: Hmm, good point. So they were just testing me then...
Wesley: Or they wanted to put it up on Ebay.
Angel: hmm?
Wesley: Come on, an autograph from the vampire with a soul, on his very own shanshu prophesy, no less! The reserve would be over 7 figures!
Angel: What's Ebay?
Wesley: Here, lets take a look. (opens up laptop, types) there it is. See, look.
Angel: Hmmm, is that an old picture of me?
Wesley: Yes, you've gained weight.
End scene.
Monday, May 4, 2009
An interesting hand that should never have been.
Yesterday, while playing poker at a local home game, I had an interesting hand that I would like to share with you. The point of the hand is not really what the cards came up, although you'll see that it dramatically changed the outcome of the hand and the rest of the session, but more importantly, my reasoning for the decisions I made, and the true worth of defending a bluff.
We were playing .25/.50 NL Hold Em, 6 handed, very friendly game, lots of loose calls and tons of action from everyone. We were all very familiar with each others playing styles. I had a reputation of being very loose and aggressive, however, in the past few weeks, everyone at that table was aware of desire to tighten up, and improve my game, especially the villain in this hand.
As I mentioned, it was a very loose game, and several people at the table had never played a cash game, as they were all tournament playing at a local card room where we had all met. The villain and I had arrived together, and were easily the most experienced players at the table. Not the best strategy, but we both like to target each other, especially in this type of relaxed atmosphere. We had taught the other players at the table a new word, "Straddle", which had resulted in a few of them going a bit overboard with it. On this particular hand we had not one, but two straddles up, (so before the cards were dealt, there was the small blind .25, big blind ((me)) .50, 1st straddle ((villain)) 1.00, and 2nd straddle 2.00, making the pot $3.75 before any cards were dealt). This is the type of game that I love to play because the swings are huge and someone one a move can get busted very quickly. The action folds around to me, and I look to my left and no one is showing any strength in their faces. I look down at the 8c and 4d so I decide to bump it up to $6 to go, feeling that the $3.75 should just be in my stack in the next few seconds. Then something interesting happened. Villain thought for a second, then reraised to $12. Now I know how he plays, and he does not make big moves like this without a hand. I also know that he does not make moves like this with exceptional hands either, putting his range at somewhere between Ace and a face, and pocket pairs between 9s and Qs. He surely would have smooth called with aces or kings, and would have laid down any pocket pairs below 8s.
The 2nd straddle gets out of the way, and I go into the tank for a few seconds. When he had raised, my first thought was to fold, but then it occurred to me. If I lay this down here, I am going to be reraised every time I bump it up from any position. Thats just how these guys play. At this point I realized that the $6 extra to call his raise is worth the price to keep my image up as a strong defender of my chips in the pot, thus stopping so loose bluffs later on in the session. I planned to call the raise, check the flop and then go in the tank for a few minutes before I lay down to his all-in on the flop, which is sure to come, since he was down to his last $3 after the raise, never having to show my cards, then I would simply claim to have pocket 8s or 9s, when the flop doesn't contain one of those.
So I call the raise and the chips go in the middle. Then Bam, flop comes out 3-4-4. Of course, this changed a lot of my thoughts and caused me a great deal of turmoil in my mind. Not only was I now going to have to call his all-in, but I was going to have to show the entire table that I had called a big bet with 8-4 off. For a few seconds I was tempted to fold to his all in, thinking that my image at the table was worth more than the $30 pot in front of me, but I did opt against it, simply because it was such a loose game.
The turn and river were both 7's, giving me 4s full, and his A-J completely missed everything.
So how important is a tight table image? Would anyone throw that hand into the muck to protect your image after that flop?
We were playing .25/.50 NL Hold Em, 6 handed, very friendly game, lots of loose calls and tons of action from everyone. We were all very familiar with each others playing styles. I had a reputation of being very loose and aggressive, however, in the past few weeks, everyone at that table was aware of desire to tighten up, and improve my game, especially the villain in this hand.
As I mentioned, it was a very loose game, and several people at the table had never played a cash game, as they were all tournament playing at a local card room where we had all met. The villain and I had arrived together, and were easily the most experienced players at the table. Not the best strategy, but we both like to target each other, especially in this type of relaxed atmosphere. We had taught the other players at the table a new word, "Straddle", which had resulted in a few of them going a bit overboard with it. On this particular hand we had not one, but two straddles up, (so before the cards were dealt, there was the small blind .25, big blind ((me)) .50, 1st straddle ((villain)) 1.00, and 2nd straddle 2.00, making the pot $3.75 before any cards were dealt). This is the type of game that I love to play because the swings are huge and someone one a move can get busted very quickly. The action folds around to me, and I look to my left and no one is showing any strength in their faces. I look down at the 8c and 4d so I decide to bump it up to $6 to go, feeling that the $3.75 should just be in my stack in the next few seconds. Then something interesting happened. Villain thought for a second, then reraised to $12. Now I know how he plays, and he does not make big moves like this without a hand. I also know that he does not make moves like this with exceptional hands either, putting his range at somewhere between Ace and a face, and pocket pairs between 9s and Qs. He surely would have smooth called with aces or kings, and would have laid down any pocket pairs below 8s.
The 2nd straddle gets out of the way, and I go into the tank for a few seconds. When he had raised, my first thought was to fold, but then it occurred to me. If I lay this down here, I am going to be reraised every time I bump it up from any position. Thats just how these guys play. At this point I realized that the $6 extra to call his raise is worth the price to keep my image up as a strong defender of my chips in the pot, thus stopping so loose bluffs later on in the session. I planned to call the raise, check the flop and then go in the tank for a few minutes before I lay down to his all-in on the flop, which is sure to come, since he was down to his last $3 after the raise, never having to show my cards, then I would simply claim to have pocket 8s or 9s, when the flop doesn't contain one of those.
So I call the raise and the chips go in the middle. Then Bam, flop comes out 3-4-4. Of course, this changed a lot of my thoughts and caused me a great deal of turmoil in my mind. Not only was I now going to have to call his all-in, but I was going to have to show the entire table that I had called a big bet with 8-4 off. For a few seconds I was tempted to fold to his all in, thinking that my image at the table was worth more than the $30 pot in front of me, but I did opt against it, simply because it was such a loose game.
The turn and river were both 7's, giving me 4s full, and his A-J completely missed everything.
So how important is a tight table image? Would anyone throw that hand into the muck to protect your image after that flop?
Friday, January 30, 2009
I'm a Blogger Now!
Actually, that title is misleading. I have been a blogger before. What feels like a lifetime ago, I would actually blog on a daily basis. This was before I got married, had a baby and stopped drinking. Now, I simply change diapers, feed the baby, and think about drinking. For the longest time, I really thought I would never blog again, simply because my life was so different than it was. Frankly, I was completely miserable, and I thought that was what made my blogs so interesting. In reality, it was me bitching for 400 words. Now, my life is somewhat normal. I work for a sex toy company, I play poker online, and I produce a podcast that stars my wife answering questions about extreme sexual interests. Ok, so my life is not completely normal, but I am finding that playing online poker is very normal.
Last night I played in the Twitter Poker Tour. This was my 5th or 6th entry into this weekly event. The usual amount of players is anywhere between 25-40 players, each buying in for $5. Not a huge pay day to the winner, but its nice for all your Twitter friends to get together and play some poker. I look at it as one more way for an online community to become more of a community.
Last week was by far my best showing in the tournament, coming in 5th place and winning about $17. The bottom of the money, but still in. I played the short stack strong and steady for the last 30 minutes of my game after building a decent stack early on. This is my typical play of winning early and calling off my stack and finishing just in the money. It's not a good system, but it keeps me from going broke.
Last night was the second event of the season and the first one on Poker Stars. Now, let me be frank, I hate Poker Stars. Daniel Negreanu is one of my favorite poker celebs, but for some reason, Poker Stars has never been profitable for me. Every 2 weeks I look at the TPT as the most expensive tournament I play in, simply because it always follows this pattern:
1. Tweets start popping up about the #TPT reminding me that its Thursday.
2. I deposit the minimum $25 on Poker Stars and sign up for the #TPT
3. I get home and sit down to play a little on Stars to reaclimate myself to the software.
4. I lose $19.50 in about 15 minutes playing with AK vs QQ. (yes, it is always that hand, the suits occasionally are different, but it is always those particular values)
5. I go back to Full Tilt until 9pm.
Last night, there were about 35 entrants in the tournament, I came in a whopping 23rd! Way outside the money.
Here are the holes in my play from last night:
1. I raised with 3-5 off suit whenever I had it.
2. I did not get the proper values with the strong hands I played, simply because of my never-ending fear that my very strong hand is second best.
Let me explain number 2 for a second. I have been trained by online poker to assume that every single hand, the nuts are out there. Someone was dealt the nuts to every hand, and all I can hope is that they folded pre-flop. When I flop a straight, check it, then the board pairs, I assume that someone just made their boat. This could also be because I play a lot of Omaha, and that scenerio is much more likely in that game, but either way, I always fear the nuts. So, that is my goal for 2009. Don't fear the nuts, they are not always dealt, and they if you don't get the value for your made hands, you are throwing away money. I cannot afford to fear the nuts.
Be well my friends,
Nick
Last night I played in the Twitter Poker Tour. This was my 5th or 6th entry into this weekly event. The usual amount of players is anywhere between 25-40 players, each buying in for $5. Not a huge pay day to the winner, but its nice for all your Twitter friends to get together and play some poker. I look at it as one more way for an online community to become more of a community.
Last week was by far my best showing in the tournament, coming in 5th place and winning about $17. The bottom of the money, but still in. I played the short stack strong and steady for the last 30 minutes of my game after building a decent stack early on. This is my typical play of winning early and calling off my stack and finishing just in the money. It's not a good system, but it keeps me from going broke.
Last night was the second event of the season and the first one on Poker Stars. Now, let me be frank, I hate Poker Stars. Daniel Negreanu is one of my favorite poker celebs, but for some reason, Poker Stars has never been profitable for me. Every 2 weeks I look at the TPT as the most expensive tournament I play in, simply because it always follows this pattern:
1. Tweets start popping up about the #TPT reminding me that its Thursday.
2. I deposit the minimum $25 on Poker Stars and sign up for the #TPT
3. I get home and sit down to play a little on Stars to reaclimate myself to the software.
4. I lose $19.50 in about 15 minutes playing with AK vs QQ. (yes, it is always that hand, the suits occasionally are different, but it is always those particular values)
5. I go back to Full Tilt until 9pm.
Last night, there were about 35 entrants in the tournament, I came in a whopping 23rd! Way outside the money.
Here are the holes in my play from last night:
1. I raised with 3-5 off suit whenever I had it.
2. I did not get the proper values with the strong hands I played, simply because of my never-ending fear that my very strong hand is second best.
Let me explain number 2 for a second. I have been trained by online poker to assume that every single hand, the nuts are out there. Someone was dealt the nuts to every hand, and all I can hope is that they folded pre-flop. When I flop a straight, check it, then the board pairs, I assume that someone just made their boat. This could also be because I play a lot of Omaha, and that scenerio is much more likely in that game, but either way, I always fear the nuts. So, that is my goal for 2009. Don't fear the nuts, they are not always dealt, and they if you don't get the value for your made hands, you are throwing away money. I cannot afford to fear the nuts.
Be well my friends,
Nick
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